Model Classroom Readiness

So I went by school yesterday to work in my room for a bit.  The boys were with grandma, so I had a little time.  I printed off my Whole Brain Teaching Model Classroom eBook and got to work.  I have now found a spot for my Class leaders board, my Genius Ladder, my PowerPix Walls (for both Communication Arts and Math), my Scoreboard, and my Practice Cards.  So much to do before school starts.  I have all the spots picked out, and now I just have to put it all together.  I'm thinking a couple more afternoons and I'll be ready to go.

Also on the list of things to do...get ready for a new teacher back to school presentation with Susan.  Planning on getting together with her, so we can get all our ducks in a row.  Busy times.  Where has the summer gone?

Had to Learn More!!!!

So, I had been using WBT in my classroom, reading the eBooks, and checking out the website, but I still had to learn more!  Another colleague of mine approached me about attending a WBT conference in Phoenix.  I was all for it!  We checked with our principal and were given permission to go.  Of course, we had to pay our own way, but they wouldn't dock us the days we were gone.  We checked into the conference and ended up making all of our arrangements for a January conference in Phoenix!  We were pumped. 

WBT was running fairly smoothly in my classroom.  The scoreboard was keeping my class on track with behavior.  The PowerPix were proving to be very effective, and the Teach/Okay was a huge hit with all of my kids.  They would constantly tell me how much they loved third grade because they got to teach each other and talk.  This was the first year that discipline problems were almost non-existent.  I was so excited about the upcoming conference in Phoenix and learning more about WBT!

Another Amazing Conference!

I returned last Thursday evening from another amazing WBT conference in West Plains, MO!  What an amazing learning experience.  How quickly things can evolve in WBT.  The Sentence Ladder, which I learned about in Louisiana, is now the Genius ladder!  How much fun are students going to have constructing genius sentences!  The five step lesson template was reinforced for me, and clarified a few steps that I wasn't fully implementing.  I now feel that I have a clearer understanding of how my model classroom is going to look when I return in August.  I went by school yesterday and tried to get a vision in my mind of where everything is going to go.  I think I have a spot for my PowerPix wall, my class leaders, my genius ladder, and my scoreboard.  I'm anxious to get started working with my 3rd grade team on the Prove It game.  We've already started discussing core concepts that we need to be writing up questions for in math.  What a busy and exciting time!

I guess I should get back to how my classroom was running during the 2010-2011 school year though.  I started to incorporate some of the math PowerPix, and again was amazed at how quickly my students were picking up various concepts in both Communication Arts and Math.  The best part was that they remembered what we learned about when we came back to it later.  I got more in depth with the eBooks, and introduced some of the WBT games.  My kiddos loved SuperSpeed 100, and I could tell a difference in their fluency.  The main thing I needed to remember was that I needed to learn more about WBT, so we would all be successful!